Marcia Strykowski

Author Archive: Marcia Strykowski

2023 Picture Books

Hello and Happy New Year! I thought I’d post a quick snapshot of new and upcoming picture books that have caught my attention of late. This first book on my list, hot off the press from Page Street Kids, is super cool. Abby’s determination is an inspiration for people of all ages and in all …

Continue reading

New Picture Books featuring Animal Characters

I requested three brand new books for review and realized in hindsight that all have animals as main characters. I love animal characters. And I love how animals in picture books can live through scary or rough situations while leaving a little bit of emotional distance from the small children enjoying their stories. Besides, don’t …

Continue reading

New Picture Books for 2022!

Time to catch up on some picture books I’ve recently reviewed. Thanks to Candlewick Press for sharing these first three newly released (or nearly released!) books with me for an early sneak peek and in turn, a heads-up for my readers, too. FIRSTS AND LASTS: THE CHANGING SEASONS is written by Leda Schubert and is …

Continue reading

Library Community Read

A group of our local libraries are doing an important community read where a great many people all read the same books on a chosen subject. The first book we read–They Called Us Enemy by George Takei with gorgeous illustrations by Harmony Becker– led to a great book club discussion. There were 15 attendees at …

Continue reading

2022 ALA Youth Media Awards

Everyone’s been talking about the latest American Library Association awards for last year’s children’s books. It’s a great honor for authors and illustrators to show an ALA award sticker on their books. From the announcement date on, sales skyrocket. Here are some of the highlights. Winner of the 2022 Newbery Medal is The Last Cuentista, …

Continue reading

A New Year

I’m fulfilling my New Year’s resolution to post something, ANYTHING, on this blog. It’s been quite a few months now and I miss keeping in touch with you all. What can I say, my mind has been elsewhere. Like many of you, I’m sure, it’s been a couple of years of ups and downs. Thank …

Continue reading

Spring Fling Contest Entry

Rules include finding or making a GIF and then writing a short children’s story to go with it—maximum word count = 150. The crocus picture is from bestanimations.com and the caterpillar is Anardi’s at gifer.com. I combined them (my first homemade gif attempt!) by using giphy.com My entry for the Spring Fling KidLit Contest: STILL …

Continue reading

Creative Walking on Writers’ Rumpus

I’ve got a new post up on the wonderful Writers’ Rumpus blog! You can check it out here: Creative Walking  Hope you like it.

Continue reading

Gardening During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Like many others, my life has changed during the COVID-19 virus. One thing I’ve found a wee bit of time for is gardening. All thanks to a friendly woman who gave me a box of 80 seed pods on my way out of Stop & Shop. It was my first time going to this particular …

Continue reading

National Library Week & Writing News

First off—Happy National Library Week—April 19-25, 2020 Libraries have so much to offer, even from the comfort of your own home. Have you checked your local library’s online offerings? From story-times to downloadable books, movies, magazines, audiobooks, and music, there’s something for everyone. As mentioned in my last post, I’ve had trouble concentrating on my …

Continue reading